Prefabricated reinforced beam



Nov. 18, 1952 R. s. REED PREFABRICATED REINFORCED BEAM File March 29,1949 INVENTOR. iaiaw/ J. flea BY fi/ZZ/flg -in Fig. 2.

Patented Nov. 18, 1952 PREFABRICATED REINFORCED BEAM Robert S. Reed,Three Rivers, Mich., assignor of one- Mich

half to George H. Zerfas, Three Rivers,

Application March 29, 1949, Serial No. 84,194

6 Claims. 1 This invention relates to improvements in composite beamstructure of preformed concrete blocks and metal retaining members.

The principal objects of this invention are: .wFilSt, to provide acomposite beam structure for carrying vertical loads which will requiresubstantially less steel than an all metal beam for carrying comparableloads.

Second, to provide a beam structure in which the compressive stressesare carried primarily by preformed standard concrete building stocks.

Third, to provide a beam structure which is relatively easy to erect inthat the elements of the beam can be erected separately without the useof heavy lifting equipment.

Fourth, to provide a composite beam structure which will fit into a wallwithout interrupting the regular spacing of the block elements in thewall and without requiring the cutting or shaping of any of the blockelements.

Fifth, to provide a beam structure, the metal elements of which may bepreformed and shipped and which will require a minimum of shippingspace.

Sixth, to provide a composite beam structure particularly for use as alintel in a concrete block wall, which beam is substantiallyunnoticeable in the wall and has the appearance of a section of thewall.

Other objects and advantages relating to details of my beam structurewill be apparent from a consideration of the following description andclaims.

The drawings, of which there is one sheet, illustrate a preferred formof the beam structure.

, Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating a partiallycompleted beam. in erected position on portions of a wall.

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the beam with, portions of thesupporting wall illustrated incross section.

- Fig. '3 is,a fragmentary vertical longitudinal cross sectional viewthrough the beam taken along the plane of the line 33 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged transverse cross'sectional view takenalong the plane of th line 4-4 in Fig. 3. i

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary horizontal cross sectional view taken along theplane of the line 55 My beam designed primarily for use in concreteblock or brick wall construction and .is

preferably proportioned to cooperatewith conpretebuilding; blocks, thesizes of: which have been more or less standardized in the buildingindustry. In the drawings I have illustrated. portions of a block wallI, I built up of standard concrete building blocks -2 to-form the sidesof a door or window opening. The top of the opening is bridged by mybeam, generally indicated at 3, with the ends of the beam resting uponthe walls as abutments. The beam thus formspa lintel fOr the opening anda support for superimposed courses of blocks as will be readilyappreciated.

.The beam consists generally of an upper plate 4 and a lower plate 5tied together with vertical tie rods 6 and further connected from end toend by the longitudinal rod-l. The spaces between the plates 4 and 5 andthe vertical rodli' are filled with a series of building blocks 2A whichmay if desired be identical with the blocks 2 used in the wall I but areusually smaller. 5v

More specifically, the plates 4 and 5- are preferably identical in shapeand sizeand are; formed by folding relatively thin gauge sheetsteel toprovide a return bend double wall tongue 8 longitudinally along thecenter of the plate. The edges of the plate are turned oppositelyfromthetongue 8 to provide edge flanges 9. Preferably the sides of the tongue 8are spaced apartlaterally to provide a groove ID and to fix the outsidethickness of the tongue at a figure approximately equal to the thicknessof a standard mortar joint in concrete blockconstruction. This thicknessis approximately The height of the flange 9 is also preferablytocorrespond to the thickness of the mortar joint. I find that 16 gaugesheet steelis well suited to the forms..- tionof the plates. 1

The plates 4 and 5 are pierced to provide pairs of holes spacedlongitudinally alongthe plates by a distance equal Itov twice the.length. of the building blocks 2 withthe holes. of each pair locatednear the side edges of the'plates and just within thefianges 9.Thejhol'es thus formed serve to receive the spaced ends of .part of thevertical rods 6 which are U-shaped in character in a manner to bedescribed'presently. Midway between the pairs of holes in the plate, thetongue 8 is transversely pierced as at II to receive the U-shaped bendsof the rest of the vertical rods 6. The holes II are spacedfrom thebottom of the groove lll sufficiently to permit a short length ofreinforcing rod I2 to be positioned between the bend of the vertical rodand the bottom of the groove Ill. 1

It will be noted that the upper and lower plates land ll, which areotherwise identical [in con struction, are cut in staggered fashion sothat the apertures H in the tongue of one beam are positioned oppositepairs of holes in the opposite beam.

The vertical rods 6 are made of steel stock of no larger diameter thanthe thickness of the mortar joints and in the present instance areslightly less than /8 in diameter. The rods are bent generally into U orV-shape'as illustrated with parallel end portions I3 arranged to passthrough the pairs of holes in the plates and be secured thereto by nutsI l. The nuts also are limited to less than thickness so as to liewholly within the trough formed by the edge 7 flanges 9 on the plates.The vertical rods 5, which are alternately positioned in upwardly anddownwardly opening position, thus serve to clamp the upper and lowerplates together and to clamp the blocks 2A between the plates.

The vertical rods 6 at each end of the beam open inwardly and have astrut or brace plate l5 positioned between the parallel ends 13 thereof.As is most clearly shown in Fig. 5, the ends of the strut [5 are groovedto fit snugly against the ends of the rod. The center portion of theStruts [5 is pierced to pass the end of the longitudinal' tie rod 1 andnuts 16 are provided for drawing the longitudinal tie rod tight.

' The U-shaped vertical rod 6 in the center of the beam is in downwardlyopening position and is provided with a similar strut 15A pierced in thecenter to pass the longitudinal rod 1. The rod 1 is bent downwardly fromeach end to pass through the center strut ISA and when the nuts [6 onthe ends of the longitudinal rod are tightened the rod tends tostraighten and draw the center strut [5A upwardly into the converginglegs of the center vertical rod. Should the length of the beam be equalto an uneven number of blocks 2A, the lower portion of the longitudinalrod 1 may be extended between two adjacent downwardly opening verticalrods to provide a Symmetrical beam structure.

In erecting the beam, the vertical and longitudinal rods 6 and 1 areloosely connected to the plates 4 and 5 in the manner described and thenecessary number of concrete blocks 2A are then fitted into the properplaces. It will be noted that the several blocks are thus positioned inabutting relation against the opposite sides of interior ver- F ticalrods 6 and the inner sides of the end rods. The vertical rods beingdisposed as they are in vertical transverse planes have portionsdisposed in horizontally transversely spaced portions of the transverseplanes to abut against blocks positioned on each transverse side of thevertical longitudinal center'plane of the beam. The nuts [4 are thentightened to clamp the plates tightly against the top and bottomsurfaces of the blocks. The nuts [6 on the ends of the longitudinal rod1 are then tightened, which action tends to spread the converging legsof the vertical rods with which the longitudinal rod is engaged andfurther draw the plates 4 and 5 vertically together. The beam may beentirely completed on the ground and erected as a unit or the metalportions of the beam may be placed on the wall and the blocks 2A theninserted into the steel framework. In any case, the lower plate 5 is seton a layer of mortar l1 positioned between the ends of the flanges 9 onthe lower plate so that the load on the beam is transmitted to thesupporting wall I. Note that all of the nuts l4 and 16 are accessiblefor tightening if the bearing or the 4 beam on the wall abutments is notlonger than the length of one of the building blocks.

The beam thus erected is complete so far as its load carrying propertiesare concerned and the spaces between the blocks 2A may be later filledor pointed with mortar as desired. The downwardly opening slot inthetongue of the bottom plate opens inwardly to the opening formed bythe wall abutments and the lintel and is well adapted to receive andanchor a flange projecting outwardly from a window or door framepositioned in the wall opening. The beam is easily erected and shippedand requires only approximately 30% of the steel used in standard steelbeams for bridging comparable openings thus reducing the shipping weightof the beam. The concreteblocks which form the body of the beam may beacquired locally and when the beam is erected it is substantiallyunnoticeable in the wall.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by" Letters Pat ent is:

1. A composite beam structure comprising spaced upper and lowerlongitudinally extending plates, said plates having U-shaped tonguesextending longitudinally in the centers thereof and projecting towardeach other, outwardly turned flanges on the edges of said plates,vertical tie rods connectin said plates at regularly spaced intervalstherealong, said vertical tie rods being U-shaped and having theirclosed ends engaged through holes in said tongues and their open endsengaged through holes along the sides of said plates, said vertical tierods alternating along said beam between upwardly and downwardly openingposition with the end tie rods opening upwardly, reinforcing rodspositioned between the closed ends of said vertical tie rods and theclosed folds in said tongues, struts positioned :between the arms of theend tie rods and near the upper ends thereof, a third strut positionedbetween the arms of an interior downwardly opening tie rod of said beamand near the bottom thereof, a longitudinally extending tie rodextending through said struts and bent downwardly in the middle to passthrough said third strut, nuts on the ends of said vertical andlongitudinal tie rods for tensioning said rods, and preformed concretebuilding blocks positioned between said plates and said vertical tierods and on each side of said tongues on said plates, said blocksprojecting beyond said flanges. on the edges of said plates.

2. A composite beam structure comprising spaced upper and lowerlongitudinally extending plates, said plates having U-shaped tonguesextending longitudinally in the centers thereof and projecting towardeach other, vertical tie rods connecting said plates at regularly spacedintervals therealong, said vertical tie rods being U-shaped and havingtheir closed ends extending through openings in said tongues with theiropen ends engaged through holes along the. sides. of said plates, partof said vertical tie rods alternating along said beam between upwardlyand downwardly opening position with the end tie rods opening upwardly,reinforcing rods positioned in the closed folds in said tongues andwithin the closed ends of the vertical tie rods extending therethrough,struts positioned between the arms of the end tie rods and near theupper ends thereof, a third strut positioned between the arms of aninterior downwardly opening tie rod of said beam and near the bottomthereof, said end and said interior vertical tie rods having armsconverging toward their closed ends and inwardly of said beam from saidstruts to prevent inward displacement thereof, a longitudinallyextending tie rod extending through said struts and bent downwardly inthe middle to pass through said third strut, nuts on the ends of saidvertical and longitudinal tie rods for tensioning said rods, andpreformed concrete building blocks positioned between said plates andsaid vertical tie rods and on each side of said tongues on said plates.

3. A composite beam structure comprising spaced upper and lowerlongitudinally extending plates, said plates having tongues extendinglongitudinally thereof and projecting inwardly of said beam, verticaltie rods connecting said plates at spaced intervals therealong, saidvertical tie rods being U-shaped and having their closed ends extendingthrough openings in said tongues with their open ends engaged throughholes along the sides of said plates, part of said vertical tie rodsalternating along said beam between upwardly and downwardly openingposition, struts positioned between the arms of the end tie rods andnear the tops thereof, a third strut positioned between the arms of aninterior downwardly opening tie rod of said beam and near the bottomthereof, said end and said interior vertical tie rods having verticallyoutwardly facing engagement with said struts to prevent movement thereofinwardly of said beam, a longitudinally extending tie rod extendingthrough said struts and bent downwardly in the middle to pass throughsaid third strut, nuts on the ends of said vertical and longitudinal tierods for tensioning said rods, and preformed concrete building blockspositioned between said plates and said vertical tie rods and on eachside of said tongues on said plates.

4. A composite beam structure comprising spaced upper and lowerlongitudinally extending plates, vertical projections on said platesdisposed longitudinally therealong and near the transverse centersthereof and extending inwardly of the beam, vertical tie rods connectingsaid plates at regularly spaced intervals therealong, said Vertical tierods being U-shaped and having their closed ends engaged through aprojection on one plate and having their open ends engaged through holesalon the sides of the other of said plates, said vertical tie rodsalternating along said beam between upwardly and downwardly openingpositions, a longitudinally extending tie rod connected to and extendingbetween vertical tie rods near the ends of said beam and near the topthereof and bent downwardly in the middle and connected to said lowerplate, nuts on the ends of said vertical and lon- 6 gitudinal tie rodsfor tensioning said rods, and

preformed concrete building blocks positioned between said plates andsaid vertical tie rods and on eachside of said longitudinal tie rod.

5. A composite beam structure comprising ver tically spacedlongitudinally extending plates, transverse tie rods connecting saidplates at regularly spaced intervals therealong, said transverse tierods lying in planes extending transversely of the beam and beingdisposed in horizontally transversely spaced portions of said planes, alongitudinally extending tie rod extending between transverse tie rodsnear the ends of said beam and near the top thereof and bent downwardlyin the middle and connected to said lower plate, and preformed concretebuilding blocks positioned between said plates and said transverse tierods and on each side of said longitudinal tie rod, said blocks eachengaging the inner surfaces of said plates and being in longitudinalload transmitting relation with said transverse tie rods.

6. A composite beam structure comprising elongated vertically spacedmetal plate mem bers, a plurality of preformed concrete blockspositioned in a horizontally double row between said plate members andeach engaging the inner surfaces thereof, transverse tension membersconnecting said plates and positioned between longitudinally adjacentblocks and at the ends of said beam, said transverse tension membersbeing disposed horizontally transversely of the beam and engaging theends of adjacent blocks in each row of blocks, and a longitudinaltension member extending between said rows of blocks and having atensioning connection with the ends of said upper plate, saidlongitudinal tension member being downwardly bowed and connectedintermediate of its ends to said lower plate member, the thickness ofsaid tension members being no greater than the thickness of the standardmortar joint used with said blocks.

ROBERT S. REED.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 786,820 Kahn Apr. 11, 19051,158,197 Francis Oct. 26, 1915 1,197,363 Francis Sept. 5, 19161,243,000 Stewart Oct. 16, 1917 1,762,112 White June 3, 1930 2,075,633Anderegg Mar. 30, 1937 2,101,538 Faber Dec. 7, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 7,727 Norway Nov. 13, 1899

